Shadows
by I s i s3
Summary: Faith breaks out of jail and contracted by a particuarly powerful vampire gang to kill Angel... But will she be able to go through with it?
1. Default Chapter

  
Shadows  
  
  
Faith didn't know what she was doing there, all she knew is that she had to get out. It wasn't even a slow itching to escape. Lying in bed night after night, wondering what her 'friends' were doing, getting more and more stir crazy. Or even a growing boredom with the monotony of the correctional system. Anything but. The screaming voices in her mind of guilt and pain and anger had gradually lessened to a whisper, always present but bareable, allowing her an occasional moment of peace now and then. The nightmares had decreased in their intensity and she was even capable of a laugh or two when visiting hours rolled around.  
  
Although consumed by questions regarding her rash actions earlier, she was more concerned about the fact that none of these worries even entered her mind at the time...  
  
* * *  
  
It had been the first time to go out into the prison's yard in weeks, since they had built a new rooftop yard to make it harder for the convicts to escape. The running track was smaller than the one in the old yard but it was seperate from the benches and the basketball court so she was mostly left to alone there, which suited her just fine. Some of the girls had an on-going pool to see how many laps she could do this week, which no-one won because after a few hours of watching her burn up the track they usually gave up. They had soon learned after she took down 'Big Bertha' in the shower room, a woman so large she as her own gravitational pull and an attraction to the new girls, or 'fresh meat' as she liked to call them, it was safer to bet on Faith's running ability than who could floor her first. And with nothing better to do at night than shuffle against the one broken bed spring in her dirty mattress that refused to let her have a moments rest, she clocked up the laps she'd done on the track over the past week and figured she could have made it to Canada and back by now, or Mexico. Faith would like Mexico.  
  
Or read. She could always read by the flickering flourescent bulb in the hall, whatever book Angel had brought her that week. She liked reading, it took her back to a time in her childhood when stories were a way of escaping her shitty life, before the violence and vice took over.  
  
This week it was "The Zen Master Within", an on-going joke between them. It had a pale cover and silver embossed writing, the type of book that would have looked good on a coffee table in an upscale apartment, not a dusty floor in a prison cell. She couldn't read the book without laughing at the talk of "your inner power" and the image of Angel uncomfortably browsing through the self help section of a book shop, surrounded by badly-dressed, new-age women.  
  
Faith lay there a few nights on her side, her arm hanging over the edge of the bed, absent-mindedly tracing the fancy lettering on the cover with a bitten finger-nail, thinking of the personal inscription inside in vivid black ink. This comforting action helped her more than any of the book's calming phrases could. Thinking back, she wished she had taken the book with her.  
  
But it wasn't a planned break. It wasn't even a spurr of the moment decision to take advantage of the fact that, in their arrogance, the prison had only appointed two guards to watch the all new, inescapable rooftop yard, and said two guards were trying to break up a brawl between a couple of girls which quickly involved everyone standing around.  
  
Screams and yells of the fight barely registered as she stood panting after her 100th lap. Bent over, with palms resting on tired, over-exerted knees she suddenly straightened, a sweak-soaked towel slipping from around her neck, hitting the plastic covered concrete with a wet slap. Sharply, she felt removed from her surroundings. Faith's super senses changed indiscribably, both fading away and going into over-drive. She could feel the breeze slowing down, almost hear the decreasing tempo of the sun's rays beating against the tarmac.  
  
She couldn't think, and didn't want to, didn't realize she was staring at the shimmering perimeter fence or that her feet were moving forward, unbidden. As the noise of the scuffle to her left reached a cresendo, instinct took over and she broke into a run. The guards who should have been watching the yard's security camera reached the roof at that instant to help stop the brawl and didn't see her as she leapt upwards.  
  
She felt her hair whip past her face in a swirl of raven and the cool brush of steel against her fingers as she sommer-saulted over the fence. Tiny slivers of white-hot pain slipped through her ankles as she landed on the impossibly far away roof below. No-one would notice she was gone until it was time to go back to the cells.  
  
  
* * * 


	2. Part 2

  
Shadows - Part 2  
  
  
She lay on her back in a pile of garbage shocked as to how she got there. She remembered the metallic clang of the rear exit behind her as she walked away from the saturday-night crowded club. Turning, suprised she found herself looking into the almost animalistic glint in the eyes of two male persuers. Danger seemed to radiate from them in waves and before she knew what she was doing she lanches herself in the opposite direction, clattering procariously on high-heeled boots, dodging into the nearest alley. A strangled gasp escaped her lips as with unearthly speed and strength, far greater than her own, the first man's hand clamped around the back of her neck, fingers curling across her windpipe and tangling in her dark hair.  
  
Swinging her into the nearest wall, she sailed through the air and slammed against the brick surface, slumping in a pile beside a dumpster. Nothingness was all she felt for a few moments before the blinding pain seared its way through every single nerve ending, burning images onto the insides of her eyelids. Vaguely she was aware of the warmth of the thick, crimson rivulets that ran along her left temple and dripped onto her lashes from a gash on her forehead, the tase of burnt copper on her tongue from her split lip.  
  
Suddenly she remembered the danger of her assalents and tried to sit up, but was knocked back by the almost physical force of the nausea she felt. Black-red blotches danced at the edge of her vision as she attempted to focus on the two figures. Prehaps it was her impaired sight that made her see the slight growth in their jagged teeth, but nothing could confuse the shifting of their facial bones, changing, pushing forward against the thin layer of skin that covered them. Or the amber glint of their irises in the street-light's glow. Her large brown eyes widened as she looked at the two men. The two vampires.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Faith watched the scene play out below her. She saw the terrified young girl staring at her attackers, transfixed like a deer caught in hearlights. The girl tried to edge away from them as they shifted into their game faces, not truly understanding what they were but knowing that their monsterous visages would probably be the last she would ever see.  
  
Faith observed the vampires from an iron fire escape several meters above the pavement that wound down the side of the old apartment building and lead to the back alley. Nervous anticipation clamped around her stomach like a cold vice as she watched the three figures on the street below. Her fingers fidgeted againt the rough surface of the metal as she leaned forward, still crouching, for a better look. She saw the demons in the men's human-looking bodies break loose and wind their way throught their long dead muscles and sinews, pushing outwards against their cool flesh. She could relate. Something dark and murderous infusing itself into your being and making you work it's will was something Faith was more than familiar with.  
  
Jail had been safe, controlled. The set system and tough restrictions helped her keep the evil within her locked away. It was always there, but increasingly subdued as the days passed. However, since her impromptu escape it had re-awoken and fought to loosen her tenacious grip on control. It howled and slammed against her insides, commanding her to perform it's violence until pushing it to the back of her mind no longer worked. It caused the blood to rush in her veins and rise to her face, creating a flush across her pale cheeks.  
  
She saw the vamps closing in on the girl and, before she could have any second thoughts, back-flipped over the worn rail of the platform she stood on and landed silently on the cement a few feet behind them. Pain shot through the soles of her feet, still tender from her leap from the prison's roof earlier that day.  
  
"Hey" she yelled, slipping into a familiar arrogant swagger. "Didn't your mothers ever tell you not to play with your food?" The two vampires spun around, angry that someone would interrupt them while they were hunting, but when they saw her they fixed her with a fang-bearing smirk. They must have thought it was their lucky night with all these defenceless young women walking around alone and turned their full attention to Faith, knowing the other girl wouldn't be going anywhere. "Not my most original pun, I know," she quipped jovially while ducking the punch swung by the first vamp who attacked and smiled as she heard the loud crack of his shin shattering beneath the force of her huge boot, "but I'm off my game."  
  
Despite working towards attonement and her recent shunning of violence she would always love that one moment, the second in any battle with an unaware and over confident foe when realization would dawn in their eyes and they would suddenly know who and what she was. Using the first vampire's momentum she spun him around so he was kneeling before her, his broken leg twisted painfully behind him, and pulled the jagged section of wooden fencing she had taken as a weapon from the waistband of her jeans. Sharp splinters of the wood bit painfully into her hands as Faith drove the makeshift stake through the demon's chest and then pushed him away. He was dust before he hit the ground.  
  
She turned o the second vampire who had not yet moved, he just stood staring, looking her up and down. He looked like the un-dead version of a kid on christmas morning, his eyes wide with shock and excitement. "You know, if you had any sense, you would be long gone by now." But of course he didn't. She was the ultimate adversary for a creature of the night, the Holy Grail. Fighting a slayer was an event that happened only once a lifetime, and every vamp from the newly turned to those who had been around for a millenia couldn't resist a shot at taking her down.  
  
From her quick assesment she figured that the second vampire was stronger than the first, taller, and at least two or three centuries older. He hadn't survived this long through foolhardiness and he circled Faith with reverance and respect for the power he knew she possessed. But obviously not used to being patient he lanched forward, hoping to catch the slayer off-guard. She dodged to the left, avoiding his right fist and clamping her fingers securely around his outstreched wrist, she backhanded him across the face. While he was still reeling from the first punch she lifted her right leg paralell to his arm and delivered a kick to the side of his head. Still holding onto his wrist she used the force of the kick to swing the vampire into a wall. Releasing him she spun around, diving for the stake she had lost sometime during the fight, but her attacker was already coming towards her, shaking off his injuries.  
  
At the same moment she grabbed her weapon his left arm shot around her neck and pulled her to her feet while his righthand closed around the fingers that held the stake. Reaching up with her free hand Faith tried to loosen his grip around her upper body but his head-lock was chocking and she was at a severe disadvantage. Grunting she strained to escape but that only caused him to press more fully against her back.  
  
She turned her head away as his rotting breath burned the insides of her nostrils. The vampire pressed his fangs triumphantly against the skin of her bare neck and laughed heartily before whispering in her ear, "You really *are* off your game Slayer!"  
  
A strangled scream of indignance escaped her lungs and Faith pulled back her free hand and with as much force as she could muster, blindly drove her knuckles behind her into his face as he reared back to deliver the final killing blow to her jugular. Her fist connected with a wet smack as cool blood spurted from his shattered nose and he stumbled backwards. Shocked the vampire loosened his grip which enabled her to raise both hands upwards, grabbing the material of his jacket over her shoulders. Using her purchase she lifted both feet off the ground, back-flipping over his head and, without touching the floor, swung overhead and dug her knees into his lower back.  
  
Falling to the ground he landed face first on the cement with Faith resting casually above with her heel digging into his spine. Pulling his head back by the hair she leaned forward and smiled against his ear. "I wouldn't say that..." Her victory was complete as she drove the stake through his ribcage and vaulted off his crumpled form before he disintergrated.  
  
"Just like riding a bike," she whispered shakily to no-one but herself. Her chest rose and fell erratically as she took deep breaths of the smoke-filled city air, waithing for the blood to stop screaming in her ears. It rushed through her veins and beat against the insides of her skin so hard she could feel her pulse throb against her wrists. The blood lust woken during the fight eventually quieted, sated by the deaths of her two supernatural attackers. Finally coming back to her senses she remembered the wounded girl cowering in the shadow of a dumpster.  
  
She tried to comfort the girl but any reassurances died on her lips. The paralysing fear in the young woman's huge hazel eyes staring directly at her caused Faith to flinch painfully. As much as the tried to atone for her crimes, as much as she longed to one day be the champion who righted the wrongs in the world, no-one would ever see her as anything more than a murderer, something to be afraid of. She had saved this girl's life but still she was as terrifing as the creatures who tried to kill her moments earlier.  
  
So caught up in her own thoughts, she didn't realize until it was too late that the woman was not looking at her, but at something in the alley behind her. Faith tried to turn and face whatever was there but the tiny sting of a poisoned dart caught her in the side of the throat. The alleyway melted together as ther vision blurred, she was unconsious before she hit the ground.  
  



	3. Part 3

  
Shadows - Part 3  
  
  
She was at the bottom of a deep lake, suspended in the black, cool water, her hair moving around her face like a dark vermilion. The burning heat lodged painfully in her chest was gone and everything seemed to move in slow motion. Turning her face upwards she saw shafts of sunlight filter through the surface of the water and warm her cheeks, highlighting the golden flecks in her soulful eyes. She could not breathe, but her lungs no longer craved the oxygen above, nothing could disturb the peace she felt. Her clothing was loose, billowing around her as she smiled, letting her eyelids slip closed, enjoying the sensation of the healing liquid sliding over her scarred skin.  
  
Voices floated to her ears from the surface of the lake, echoing and distant as if they were coming from the end of a long tunnel. Faith started to float upwards towards the voices and the figures above her, leaning over, peering at her from dry land, sillouhetted against the sunlight. Her brow furrowed uncertainly, she couldn't make out what they were saying, nor did she want to leave the lake. It was quiet and tranquil down there but she was still being pulled against her will. She tried to fight against the upward current but the once soothing water hampered her movements, rendering her unable to move.  
  
She stared skywards helplessly, incapable of resisting the force taking her towards the figures. The sunglight was brighter the closer she got and no longer warmed her but burnt her face. Her eyes widened, but she was otherwise paralysed, caught in a frightened trance as she broke through the surface of the water...  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Is she still out of it?" she heard the muffled words float through the fog that clouded her brain.  
  
"Careful, she looks like she's comin' 'round..."  
  
Faith let out a rumbling groan as she slowly slipped out of her delerium. She gasped for air but breathing was hard, her arms were pulled painfully behind her and her cheek and chest were pushed against the cold cement floor. Her thoughts were confused and her limbs would not yet respond to the correct commands, the drug used on her still held control of her motor functions.  
  
"Hey Slayer?" Her head snapped back as a large boot landed heavily between her shoulder blades. Little agonizing lightening bolts radiated along her spine and her breasts dug uncomfortably into the concrete. "Are you going to grace us with your presense anytime soon?"  
  
She heard his smirk as he gloated over her defenceless form and although she hadn't even seen her abductors yet, Faith had the undeniable urge to remove that smile from her captor's face. She tried to place her palms against the floor so she could stand up and see who was taunting her but only suceeded in discovering her hands were bound at the small of her back with thick, grating rope so tightly it was tinted red from the cuts it made into her skin. She managed to roll onto her back, weight painfully resting on her tied arms, vision spinning from the sudden movement.  
  
She finally managed to focus on the two faces hovering above her. They were vampires alright. The first who had kicked her was in full vampire form, the second looked human but she could smell the demon on him. The first staggered closer leering at her like a famished dog.  
  
"You know, I've never tasted a Slayer before," he grinned idiotically.  
  
"The boss said not to touch her until he got here," the second piped up.  
  
"I won't kill her," he assured his companion before fully turning his attention back to Faith, "anyway... I'm starving."  
  
His words caused her to shake, not out of fear but out of rage. This arrogant little shit could be no more than a few decades old, yet he honestly thought he would be the one to take the dark slayer down.  
  
Her sore muscles tensed in readiness as the first vamp approached. In a flurry of tranquilizer-inhibited movement she managed to raise her unbound legs and clamp them around his waist, bringing her head up far more quickly than a drug-induced haze should allow and blindly rammed her forhead into her attacker's face. The vampire stumbled backwards a few steps before Faith's unbalancing weight and his own feet tripped him over and sent them both flying into vamp #2.  
  
With her arms tied, her legs trapped beneath a tangle of undead limbs, her enemies rapidly recovering and her vision spinning at 1,000 rotations a second, she hoped her next move would involve a long lie down and a stiff drink. Faith wasn't sure, when the thick, metal door of the room slammed open, screaching on it's hinges, if it was a blessing or a curse. When she felt steely strong hands wind around her biceps and effortlessly hoist her into the air, she assumed it was the latter...  
  
* * * * * 


End file.
